Chronological Development of the Cyprus Tennis Federation

The first courts were built at the Houses of the English Commissioners in the towns of Nicosia, Limassol and Paphos and later in Famagusta. Courts were also built in various English Clubs all around the island

“Field Club”, the first tennis club in Cyprus was founded in the area of the Ledra Palace Hotel in Nicosia by Helen Jane Luxmore Jeffery, wife of the Director of Antiquities Department, George Jeffery. Tennis Clubs were later founded in the towns of Larnaca, Famagusta and Limassol

Tennis was included as an official sport in the Panhellenic (National) Games held in Limassol

The Cyprus Tennis Federation was founded on 17/1/1951. Its first President was Mr. R. De Glanville (until 28/2/51) followed by Costas Stephani (until 9/4/51) and later by Mrs. H.G.Richards (until September 1951)

“Field Club” moved to its present location and four tennis courts and a Club-House were constructed. The official inauguration took place on 3/10/54 by the Governor of Cyprus and Lady Armitage in the presence of all officials of Cyprus

Famagusta Tennis Club occupied now by Turkish troops, following the invasion of Turkey to the island and is still unfortunately under occupation but now fully operational in Limassol.

Following the Turkish invasion in 1974, the town of Famagusta was bombed and its population was forced to abandon the area and become refugees in their own country together with other 200.000 Cypriots. Famagusta Tennis Club lost its installations and became the first refugee tennis club. Following admirable efforts and determination by the people of Famagusta and its Club Council, the Club became active again as a member of the CTF with 10 tennis courts in Limassol. The hope of returning to Famagusta remains alive.
 

The CTF became a full member of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the European Tennis Association (TE) and the Cyprus Olympic Committee (COC).

The first Davis Cup tie (Cyprus vs. Ireland) was held at Field Club in Nicosia. It was the first appearance of Cypriot tennis players in this prestigious event with Ireland defeating Cyprus 4-1.

For the first time, various rules and regulations in respect to the organization of tournaments, the National Teams, the Ranking System, the Registration and transfer of players, the Interclub Tournaments and the Computerized ranking system were introduced by the CTF.

Cyprus participates in the Davis Cup every year since 1985. The biggest victory came in 1997 in the Euro-Africa Zone IV round-robin ties during which, Cyprus was declared Champion of its Group and was promoted to Zone III. Cyprus also participates in the Fed Cup, the ITF/ETA Development Champioships, the European Junior Tournaments (-14, -16, -18), the Copa del Sol and in a number of other international tournaments all around Europe. In addition to that, several International tournaments are organized in Cyprus every year, the most of important of which are the ITF Junior (-18)World Ranking Tournament (Group 4)“Aprodite Cup”, the ITF Men’s Future $10.000 and the Cyprus Seniors International Tournament. At the National level, CTF organizes the National Championships, the Junior National, the Troodos Open, the Interclub Championship and the Pancyprian and Open Tournaments organized by the Full and Associated members of the CTF.

CTF’s President Philios Christodoulou vision of a National Tennis Centre became a reality in the city of Nicosia. Four tennis courts with a total capacity of 2.000 spectators, a multipurpose indoor hall and a gymnastic centre comprise a modern tennis facility aimed to further promote tennis in Cyprus.

Also, ITF’s school tennis initiative, the Mini-Tennis was introduced in all major public elementary schools in Cyprus and tennis was included in the “Sports for All” programmed of the Cyprus Sports Organization.

Introduction of the “Mini-Tennis” in public schools >

With the asssistance of the ITF and the TE, the CTF formulated a medium-term 5-year strategic plan, the first to be conceived by a Cypriot sporting federation.

Impressive tennis results by the junior champion Marcos Baghdatis.

Also, a Development Fund was set up by the CTF to support and reward the exceptional efforts and results by the country’s top junior players.

Marcos Baghdatis at age 15, won the ITF Group 4 “Aphrodite Cup” for juniors under 18 becoming the first Cypriot tennis junior to reach such an achievement.

Baghdatis ended the year with a world junior under 18 ranking of 27 and an ATP ranking of 1200 following his impressive performance which resulted in reaching the quarterfinals of the Cyprus ITF Futures $10.000 championships.
 

The Golden Jubilee Year (1951-2001) was celebrated with many functions

1. The Annual General Meeting of the European Tennis Association (ETA) is held in Cyprus.
2. Inauguration of the National Tennis Center in Nicosia

CTF’s President Philios Christodoulou vision of a National Tennis Centre (NTC) becomes a reality with the facility’s construction and inauguration. The NTC is based in the city of Nicosia and comprises of a modern tennis facility aimed to further promote tennis in Cyprus. It includes four clay courts with a total capacity of 2000 spectators, a multipurpose indoor hall and a fully equipped gymnastic centre. The inauguration festivities were impressive and included among other things, the unveiling of the “Tennis Player” statue and the opening of a photographic exhibition “50 years of Tennis in Cyprus”.
 

Our junior player Marcos Baghdatis won many top-rated tournaments and he ended the year 2002 as No.2  while at the beginning of 2003 he became  No.1 of the ITF World Junior Rankings . Furthermore other junior players had excellent results.

Baghdatis in September 2003 had an ATP ranking of 190
 

Marcos Baghdatis continued his excellent performance in 2004 and 2005. One of the most important successes in his career was his participation in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. He won in the first round the French player Garage (No. 75) while he lost to the German Nicholas Kiefer (No.18) 2-1 sets. Regardless his defeat Marcos left the best impressions.

After the Athens Olympic Games he participated in the US OPEN where he won all his qualification matches and then  he competed against the French player Mutis and won in the main draw with 3-1 sets. In the second round Marcos played against the World Champion Roger Federer and succeeded to gain one set.

Although Marcos was defeated by Federer, the American Broadcasting channels were very impressed by his performance and assured that he is having a great future in tennis.

In 2005 Marcos participated in the Australian Open. After winning 3 matches in the qualies he competed successfully against the Italian Luzzi, the Croatian Ljubicic (No.22) and the Spanish Robredo (No. 13). His accession stopped only when he faced again the World Champion Roger Federer where he lost 3-0 sets.
 
Marcos was also the winner of Future Tournaments in Bolton and Tatra Banka Open in Bratislava where he beat Dominik Hrbaty in the final.

His best performance was in October 2005 when he took the 2nd place at the Basel Davidoff Swiss Indoors ($829,000) who lost to Fernando Gonzalez (ATP No. 11) in a dramatic match (3-1) sets. Following three victories in qualification matches, Marcos beat Alan Mackin(GBR) 2-0 sets, Tommy Haas(GER) 2-0 sets, Jose Acasuso(ARG) 2-0 sets and David Nalbandian (AGR) ATP No.11 2-0 sets.

The above victories brought Marcos in the 55th place of ATP Ranking.

Another Cypriot player Phodos Kallias had in 2005 excellent results. He won the Elite Cup (F3) and the Stirol Cup (F1) both in Ukraine whilst he reached the semi finals in Poland Future Tournament.

The years between 2006 -2010 are characterized by intense activity in the field of tennis. Our champion Marcos Baghdatis is still in the top 20 tennis player worldwide. Tennis matches are shown  by all the media, and our country after two successful meetings against Finland and Bulgaria in a packed National Tennis Center remains in the second group of Davis Cup.